Lamentations 2

God’s Warnings Fulfilled

2 How the Lord in his angerhas humiliated[a] daughter Zion!He has thrown down from heaven to earththe splendour of Israel;he has not remembered his footstoolon the day of his anger.

2 The Lord has destroyed without mercyall the dwellings of Jacob;in his wrath he has broken downthe strongholds of daughter Judah;he has brought down to the ground in dishonourthe kingdom and its rulers.

3 He has cut down in fierce angerall the might of Israel;he has withdrawn his right hand from themin the face of the enemy;he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,consuming all around.

4 He has bent his bow like an enemy,with his right hand set like a foe;he has killed all in whom we took pridein the tent of daughter Zion;he has poured out his fury like fire.

5 The Lord has become like an enemy;he has destroyed Israel.He has destroyed all its palaces,laid in ruins its strongholds,and multiplied in daughter Judahmourning and lamentation.

6 He has broken down his booth like a garden,he has destroyed his tabernacle;the Lord has abolished in Zionfestival and sabbath,and in his fierce indignation has spurnedking and priest.

7 The Lord has scorned his altar,disowned his sanctuary;he has delivered into the hand of the enemythe walls of her palaces;a clamour was raised in the house of the Lordas on a day of festival.

8 The Lord determined to lay in ruinsthe wall of daughter Zion;he stretched the line;he did not withhold his hand from destroying;he caused rampart and wall to lament;they languish together.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;he has ruined and broken her bars;her king and princes are among the nations;guidance is no more,and her prophets obtainno vision from the Lord.

10 The elders of daughter Zionsit on the ground in silence;they have thrown dust on their headsand put on sackcloth;the young girls of Jerusalemhave bowed their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes are spent with weeping;my stomach churns;my bile is poured out on the groundbecause of the destruction of my people,because infants and babes faintin the streets of the city.

12 They cry to their mothers,‘Where is bread and wine?’as they faint like the woundedin the streets of the city,as their life is poured outon their mothers’ bosom.

13 What can I say for you, to what compare you,O daughter Jerusalem?To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you,O virgin daughter Zion?For vast as the sea is your ruin;who can heal you?

14 Your prophets have seen for youfalse and deceptive visions;they have not exposed your iniquityto restore your fortunes,but have seen oracles for youthat are false and misleading.

15 All who pass along the wayclap their hands at you;they hiss and wag their headsat daughter Jerusalem;‘Is this the city that was calledthe perfection of beauty,the joy of all the earth?’

16 All your enemiesopen their mouths against you;they hiss, they gnash their teeth,they cry: ‘We have devoured her!Ah, this is the day we longed for;at last we have seen it!’

17 The Lord has done what he purposed,he has carried out his threat;as he ordained long ago,he has demolished without pity;he has made the enemy rejoice over you,and exalted the might of your foes.

18 Cry aloud[b] to the Lord!O wall of daughter Zion!Let tears stream down like a torrentday and night!Give yourself no rest,your eyes no respite!

19 Arise, cry out in the night,at the beginning of the watches!Pour out your heart like waterbefore the presence of the Lord!Lift your hands to himfor the lives of your children,who faint for hungerat the head of every street.

20 Look, O Lord, and consider!To whom have you done this?Should women eat their offspring,the children they have borne?Should priest and prophet be killedin the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 The young and the old are lyingon the ground in the streets;my young women and my young menhave fallen by the sword;on the day of your anger you have killed them,slaughtering without mercy.

22 You invited my enemies from all aroundas if for a day of festival;and on the day of the anger of the Lordno one escaped or survived;those whom I bore and rearedmy enemy has destroyed.

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